Toronto city council will wade into a debate this week that’s pitting a developer and hundreds of future tenants against the security concerns of Sanofi’s North York pharmaceutical plant.
Coun. James Pasternak (York Centre) is bringing forth a motion this week recommending council endorse a Minister’s Zoning Order that seeks to limit building heights at 1875 Steeles Ave. W., near Dufferin Street, to a maximum of about 10 storeys.
Developer Tenblock has planned a highrise project with almost 1,000 new rental units for the site, where there’s currently an older four-storey apartment building.
Minster’s Zoning Orders are a contentious tool that allow the province to override local rules to fast-track development. This one comes at a time when rental housing is direly needed in the Toronto area.
It was requested by the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and is open to comments until Tuesday.
“When you have towers overlooking a sensitive site it creates a security concern,” Pasternak told the Star in an interview.
“People who have nefarious objectives would be able to see into the site and see its operation.”
If there was another pandemic, and this plant was sabotaged or impaired in any way, he said, “the country would be brought to its knees.”
Residents might also complain about noises and smells, potentially shutting down production of the plant, which is in his ward, he added.
In a statement to the Star, Sanofi said the campus is Canada’s largest biomanufacturing and Research and Development facility, “supplying Canadian and global demand for lifesaving vaccines and medicines.”
It has operated for over 110 years, employing more than 2,000 with millions of dollars in funding from all levels of government.
“There are no other operations with the output and scalability like Sanofi’s site in Canada, and our ability to operate and expand must not be disrupted to enable the building of new highrise housing densification within 115 metres proximity,” the statement reads.
In a letter to the city, accompanying the motion, the company said highrise towers would “pose a risk to the security of the Sanofi Site and its sensitive operations.” And “result in potential limitations on Sanofi’s ability to obtain future mandates for sensitive projects.”
Stephen Job, vice-president at Tenblock, said if the MZO is approved, “it would kill our project,” and 960 new apartments, 15 per cent of them affordable, would be scrapped.
“We do not understand what the concern is and we’d really like to understand so we have an opportunity to address it,” he said.
He added his company hired “best-in-class consultants” to assess security and risk. They noted that the higher you go, the less of a clear view there is into the buildings, and it’s in a very dense area where there’s already a lot of housing.
“Spies are not pulling out telescopes and cameras,” he said.
According to Pasternak’s motion, the facility is located on 21 hectares of land, comprising over 40 buildings.
“In an environment where there’s already public view into this facility, basically in 360 degrees around the site, including tall buildings. It’s just not realistic to argue that our apartment buildings are creating some kind of new condition,” Job said.
Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli’s spokesperson Jennifer Cunliffe said in a statement that Sanofi has more than $2 billion in ongoing new investments at this campus.
The MZO will ensure that Sanofi’s expansions can “move forward without unnecessary delays, creating more good-paying jobs in the process.”
She added these investments will “play a key role in strengthening Ontario’s biomanufacturing capacity, producing more life-saving vaccines in the years ahead.”
Once public consultation is complete, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing will review the comments and feedback submitted, she said.
Tenblock’s Job agrees the company does important work.
“But where I get lost is how that converts, potentially, to a veto on any new development near it, without any justification,” he said.
“It puts a huge chill on housing development, especially at a time when the industry is very challenged and economic viability is razor thin already.”
MZOs were used sparingly by past provincial governments.
But the Star reported in 2023 that the Ford government has granted more than 100 since 2019.
Later in 2023, the NDP said that Ontario gave out 18 Minister’s Zoning Orders to developers who attended Doug Ford’s daughter’s wedding.
A 2021 Toronto Star/Hamilton Spectator investigation found that MZOs have benefited developers with ties to the Progressive Conservatives and local politicians.
Colleen Bailey, director at housing advocacy organization More Neighbours Toronto, said a company objecting to a development in their backyard isn’t exactly the same as an individual neighbour trying to shut a project down.
There are situations where there are legitimate concerns about industrial issues like noise or smells.
“But in this case, it just seems odd, because there already is residential there. So I don’t really understand what the difference is if you build a taller apartment building.”
